On Saturday evenings, I work at my local café-bar, Global Cafe, Reading Berkshire UK. It’s my social night out and I get paid for the privilege, I love the place, the job and the whole Global family, nowhere else like it Reading town centre! FACT! It gets pretty toastie behind that bar, especially as we are having a fabulous summer heat wave. Now I have no issues with a little body odour, its all a part of the natural human smell, which helps to attract me to people who I will connect with, for whatever reason. Obviously if we smell bad then that tells us that one needs to address personal hygiene and probably most important lifestyle choices. Listening and observing our own, rather than hiding and ignoring with fake perfumes, so many people have lost touch with themselves.

I have an adversity to perfumes, antiperspirants and deodorants, I trust my sense of smell and if you don’t smell right, then I’ll probably not get to acquainted.

Anyway, experience is that, as the evening gets busier, I perspire and eventually my pits hum, not a good look for a lady. I would then pop off to the loo, splash a tad of water under my pits, air dry and get back to the vibe at the bar, only to have to repeat this quite a few times through the evening. I read somewhere, that coconut oil is a very good deodorant, I have no issues with sweating, I don’t want to stop my body’s natural ability to cool me, its just the smell I would like to address. So just before I left last night, I thought, why not, what harm can it do to put a smear of coconut oil under my pits, n so I did, and off I cycled to work.

Evening was epic, 3 punk bands were in last night to support Berkshire Hunt Sabs and also some Animal Liberation people were there too, the place was full of energy, compassion, care for one another and huge amounts of One Loveness. So back to my pit odour, as the evening is progressing and us bar staff are throwing some shapes to the punk music, I remembered the coconut oil smeared under my pits. I lifted my arms up, stuck my nose under each one and not a whiff of body odour, I was elated! I told everyone, stop using deodorants get yourself some coconut oil, etc etc etc.

Conclusion, don’t spend your money on hygiene products that hide a problem then make the problem a whole lot worse and even cause other health related problems, plus you’ll probably find that these chemical products are not environmentally friendly, nor is their packaging. Find Fair-trade coconut oils, you’re helping someone else, you are giving your body good stuff inside and outside, cos you can eat it as well, and in the long run you’re saving money.

I have this really good friend called Craig, he’s a very knowledgeable chap and I remember him saying to me once ‘don’t put on your body, what you wouldn’t put in your body’…

The slackline is an integral part of my daily practice. When I’m about to go up on the line and being on the line, my mind can but have only one focus. Its not the balance but my breath, the moment my breath changes and becomes short, my body tenses and my focus diverts to the tension and so I have to step off, or fall off.

Today, Trixiebells (one of my rescue dogs) and I are down at the lake in Green Park. We’re right at the lake’s edge under the trees n keeping company with the many birds that visit the area. There are herds of deer that live here and we had a fleeting visit from a young stag, he looked to pretty to be dodgy hahahahaha. Other than the soft sounds of the M4 in distance, its very quiet, quiet enough for me to be tuned in with my ujjayi breath.

A goal has brought me here today but remembering what my mat yoga teaches me, I am opening my mind to a starting point, the quality of the practice and not make the fruits more important than my actions.

I’ve taken the line up to 3ft and about 11ft long. These are the max levels, my aim is yoga rather than acrobatics. My priority is my breath which I use to initiate the lift and to keep the mind calm, the body follows and I walk the line. I repeat for as many as I feel sukha and sthira, and then I rest to reflect, so I am conscious of my practice before, during and after.

My goal is to be able to turn, on the line, not step off, and walk back. A very important philosophy of yoga is not to get hung up on goals, to accept change in one’s journey towards a goal and today was a little detour from my ‘turning’ goal. I’m very happy with what I managed today, infact I conquered height n distance and all because of some basic tip advice and my focus to my breath. It’s not what one sees but rather looking with new eyes.

Ok, couple more line walks, to end on a good note and then time to go home. Thank you Mother Nature for a beautiful day.

Attended my first slackline gathering and loved it. Held in The Forbury park central Reading. The wonderful William was so talented and so sharing of his skills. I picked up a little tip, getting my arms higher will help counter balance and it worked. So weather permitting, I’ll be joining them again, regularly. Happy days!